Bagpipe-playing FGCU student shuts down anti-gay preacher on campus

A man using a megaphone to spread an anti-gay message at Florida Gulf Coast University was confronted by a gay student who just couldn't take it anymore.

She fought back without ever saying a word, and it went viral.

Brice Ehmig is a senior. She said after seeing what she calls a "hate preacher" on campus for days, she promised to do something about it. So, when the man came back with a megaphone, she decided to get louder and prouder - following him on his walk and playing a song on her bagpipes.

"I was really proud of her, honestly, for going out there and standing up for something."

Cicolani said the man "looked at (Ehmig) and said, 'why are you doing this? Why are you doing this?'"

Ehmig said she wanted to stand up for herself. "I just wanted to do something that made me feel brave."

Student Travis Means saw the whole exchange. He said both sides had freedom of speech.

"She was fighting fire with fire. He was yelling very controversial remarks," Means said.

The video has been viewed more than 100,000 times. Ehmig said she has received a lot of praise, but also some criticism.

"It probably wasn't the proper thing to do," said junior Trevor Brown. "In a way, she was being disrespectful too."

Still, Ehmig said she was doing what felt right.

"When I hear things like that, I just think about me when I was 12 and still in the closet and feeling really bad about myself. I wouldn't want her to feel bad, 12-year-old me, I need to stand up for her."

Ehmig said the man had just as much of a right to speak his mind as she had to play her music.